Friday, March 29, 2013

King Ferdinand of Bulgaria accepts the sword of the commander of the fortress of Adrianople. When was the last time a surrender involved a sword?

Serbs are claiming that it was their artillery and their troops that took Adrianople, but the Bulgarian commander says Serb operations were “purely demonstrative.”

NY Supreme Court Justice Henry Bischoff falls down an elevator shaft to his death. He was on his way to his chambers on the 13th floor, which just goes to show. The elevator operator seems to have panicked and started the car moving before the shaft door was closed. 83 people were killed in elevator accidents in 1912 in Manhattan alone. Bischoff’s death could have been stopped by an automatic locking device (elevator doesn’t move when doors are open), but real estate interests have thwarted proposed legislation to require them. Remember, elevators don’t kill people, people kill people.

Which is the last time I can think of that it happened, although I may well be missing something. It may also be the last time that army officers routinely brought swords into war zones, as the Japanese did.

I believe the Americans/Brits/Australians that accepted those swords then invariably kept them. In older times (I've seen it in the today -100 period in the Balkans and I think Mexico), it was usual chivalric practice to then return the sword.